Italian Power Metal continues to reign supreme with dozens and dozens of quality releases coming out every year. New 2012 albums by established veterans like Elvenking, Rhapsody, Skylark, Thy Majestie, Vision Divine and White Skull are making waves. However, we at Metal-Rules.com are dedicated to bringing our loyal readers information on the latest bands so, accordingly are going to do a quick review round-up of five albums by the following newer Italian bands: Another Destiny Project, Holy Knights, Mirrormaze, Sound Storm, Wind Rose. Please feel free to check out all the bands in this feature.

This brand new band hails from Trieste and have chosen to join the crowded and Italian Metal scene. Choosing to be independent for the moment the quartet have released their debut album, TELL ME WHAT YOU SEE… The album title is quite clever because the simple cover-art ties in with an image of an inkblot test! The band have presented their first work of art to the world in the form of a concise and compact 10 track album that runs about 39 minutes.

It is immediately apparent that Another Destiny Project does not follow the conventional Italian Power Metal sound. No choirs, no orchestras no epic concepts, but rather a more streamlined Metal sound. The guitars have a good tone and work well with the keyboards. There is a very decent, acoustic guitar ballad called ‘Sand’ that breaks up the album nicely placed at track six. There are also some simple swashes of keyboards on the track as well. Sometimes Peter Pahor uses the keyboards to create industrial or futuristic sounds for nice impact, as heard of the track ‘Life Of Lies’. There is also a bit of sampling of narration and other little interesting sonic quirks that set this album apart.

There seems to be a bit of a lyrical theme based on perception and sight and what people ‘see’ when awake and asleep in their mind’s eye. Tracks like ‘R.E.M.’, ‘Insomnia’, ‘Sleepwalker’ and ‘Rorschach’ all contribute to this perception but this album is anything but sleep-inducing. The pace is generally fast and the vocals of Frederico Ahrens are considerably gruffer in spots than many of his countrymen who frequently employ a clean, clear vocal style in the upper registers. The song-writing is conventional, shorter songs with a standard verse, chorus verse composition, but with lots of bells and whistles around the traditional framework.

Of all the bands in this feature ANOTHER DESTINY PROJECT have the most unique sound, but without straying too far from the roots of fast Power Metal. The album despite many qualities lacks of a bit of the energy and power I like to hear in this style. Overall, TELL ME WHAT YOU SEE… is a good debut but I’m not convinced they have what it takes to stand-out from the pack, quite yet. A bit more experience and time and I’m sure the band will be one to watch.